Vegetable and Fruit Calories Charts: Too Much Fruits and Vegetables, Healthy or Not?

Are there calories in vegetables and fruits?

Fruits and vegetables are always regarded as the healthiest food group there is. Conventional knowledge tells us that they are good sources of vitamins, minerals and substances that enable us to keep our immune system in check and protect us from chronic diseases. Most people realize this truth, but fruitarians and vegetarians and those who are on a drastic diet tend to munch on fruits and vegetables like there’s no tomorrow. Well, fruits and vegetables are better than chomping on fries and cookies, but too much of something is not always appropriate. Remember, there are calories in vegetables and fruits, too.

Fruit Calories Chart: Identify the highest and lowest calorie fruits

It may sound like a paradox to the established belief but fruits contain sugar, water, fiber, and wonderful vitamins. They are very rich in calories which should be included in your total calorie intake if you’re on a diet. Gobbling ten apples a day with 81 calories each is equivalent to eating a large bowl of lite ice cream. Consuming a mango (135 calories) and three bananas (105 calories each) is no different than 2 cups of pasta. Fruit juices, which became a diet trend sometime in this decade, are not even as healthy as we think they are since sugar is much more concentrated. Drinking huge volumes of fruit juices leads to health risks like diabetes and insulin spikes.

I see in my practice that clients are overeating on fruits especially in the summer months. I explain to them that two servings of fruit are adequate to obtain the Vitamin A and C that they need. I show them that the serving size for a fruit is very small as seen on the chart below.

I tell my client instead of eating a large bowl of grapes or a half a watermelon you are better off enjoying a reasonable size serving of a dessert.

Unfortunately, the calories for fruits are never seen in the produce department. People generally have a major misconception about the tremendous amounts of calories in fruits.

The table below contains the list of calories in fruits. This is a useful guide if you’re on a diet and you want to incorporate more fruits in your eating program.

Same as with fruits, yes, vegetables have calories, too. They have no fat and are half the calories of fruits except for peas, potatoes, corn and legumes.

I say, “Yes vegetables are very important when it comes to losing weight. They are high in fiber and give you the immediate feeling of fullness after being consumed.”

I am always emphasizing the need to combine veggies with lunch and dinner. For lunch I suggest adding pickles, coleslaw, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, etc. Build your sandwich with extra lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sprouts. I always say make extra veggies for dinner so that you can take them to work the next day for lunch.

This table below is a guide on vegetable calories. Surely, you can see that eating too many vegetables in a day does not amount to many calories compared to eating too many fruits.

Vegetable Calories Chart

Vegetable and Serving Size

Calories

Alfalfa sprouts, 1 C, raw

10

Artichoke, 1 medium, boiled

150

Asparagus, 6 spears, boiled

22

Beets, ½ C, boiled

37

Broccoli, ½ C, raw

12

Brussels sprouts, ½ C, boiled

30

Green cabbage, ½ C, raw and shredded

9

Carrot, 1 medium, raw

31

Cauliflower, ½ C, raw

13

Celery, 1 stalk, raw

6

Corn, ½ C, boiled

89

Cucumber, ½ C, raw slices

7

Eggplant, ½ C, boiled

11

Green beans, ½ C, boiled

22

Romaine lettuce, ½ C, shredded

4

Mushrooms, ½ C, raw slices

9

Onions, ½ C, raw chopped

30

Parsnips, ½ C, boiled slices

63

Peas, ½ C, frozen, boiled

62

Potato, 1 medium, baked

161

Sweet pepper, ½ C, raw chopped

14

Radishes, 10, raw

8

Spinach, ½ C, raw chopped

6

Summer squash, ½ C, raw slices

13

Tomato, 1, raw

26

The cliché, “too much of something is bad” holds true when it comes to fruits and vegetables. You must remember that fruits and vegetables alone cannot fill the dietary requirements of the body. You also need to eat something which can give you enough protein and every other needed nutrient missing in the two. And that, fruits and vegetables should be taken in moderate servings for an overall excellent health and fitness.

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